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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687783">oh how the turns have tabled</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerClassic/pseuds/AERCHIVE'>AERCHIVE (aerClassic)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5+1 Things, M/M, WooSan and SeongSang always implied, everyone is mad dumb, not technically a chatfic but there's a lot of chatting sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:48:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687783</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerClassic/pseuds/AERCHIVE</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Hongjoong tries—and fails—to confess to his crush and the one time it kinda-sorta works out.<br/><br/><i>or</i></p><p><b>Hongjoong</b>: WHY IS YUNHO SO GODDAMN DENSE<br/><b>Mingi</b>: oop-<br/><b>Hongjoong</b>: IGIVE UP I'M JUST GONNA CLAW MY FACE OFF N LIVE IN THE WOODS<br/><b>Jongho</b>: please find your chill</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jeong Yunho/Kim Hongjoong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>416</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>oh how the turns have tabled</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>-----♡-----</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Standing in the middle of the holiday themed aisle of the local grocery store, Hongjoong glares at the stuffed white bear wearing a garish sequined outfit complete with oversized bowtie holding an equally obnoxious sign that reads, ‘<em>I love you bear-y much!’</em>. A muscle beneath his eye begins to twitch the longer he gazes into those beady little black button eyeballs. He hates this thing, but it’s the kind of ridiculous over the top cheesy he’s almost certain his cru—<em>Yunho </em> would get a kick out of. Maybe. If he doesn’t run screaming like Hongjoong wants to right now.</p><p>“So are you gonna buy it or are you going stare at the bear all day?” Seonghwa pops up from behind him with his arms laden with a mixture of sour candy and chocolate bonbon sets. “Because I'll be honest: you look like you’re trying to set it on fire with your mind.”</p><p>“Shut up,” Hongjoong grumbles. He picks up the offending stuffed animal slash nightmare creature and holds it outward to Seonghwa’s generally unhelpful face. “Do you think he’d like it?”</p><p>“<em>Please</em>, this is Yunho we’re talking about. He’d probably start crying.” Seonghwa rips open the top of one of his candy bags and drops a tiny fistful of neon colored discs into his mouth. “That boy is so into you I’m pretty sure you could fart and he’d call it the most beautiful music he's ever heard in his life.”</p><p>Hongjoong grimaces. “Dude.”</p><p>“It’s true and I’m right.” Seonghwa punctuates the statement by chewing noisily into his ear. A woman pulling baker’s chocolate from the opposite shelf gives them a narrowed look of disgust and, honestly, Hongjoong can’t blame her. “Yunho loves you. Buy the bear and then finally confess to him so we can all stop watching you fall over yourself trying not to flirt. It’s been <em> years</em>, Hongjoong-ah.”</p><p>“Yunho loves everyone,” Hongjoong says, ignoring that last part with only a smidgen of bitterness. He tries to steal a few pieces of Seonghwa’s candy out of the bag, pouting when his friend swivels just out of reach. “Anyway, giving him a stuffed bear isn’t going to magically make him love me for real. I just want to give him something he’ll <em>like</em>.”</p><p>Seonghwa rolls his eyes. “You’re so dumb.”</p><p>“Hey!” Hongjoong bats at him with the toy, which Seonghwa returns in kind and loses a few pieces of hard candy to the floor for his efforts. They playfully slap at each other in the middle of the aisle until Yeosang rounds the corner with their shopping cart and scowls at them.</p><p>“<em>Children</em>, can you please act like the adults you are for three seconds? I can’t take you guys anywhere.” Yeosang bemoans.</p><p>“Sorry, Sang-ah,” Hongjoong apologizes, “Tell your boyfriend to quit being a troll.”</p><p>Hongjoong snorts as Seonghwa relaxes his face into wide eyed innocence, as if that’s somehow going to erase the memory of him acting like a goddamn toddler not even a minute ago. Yeosang pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand, shoving the cart closer to them with the other.</p><p>“Sorry, troll is his default personality”—”Yeosang!” Seonghwa whines and is summarily ignored by everyone, including the woman still hovering awkwardly next to the tasteless sugar free baking chocolates—”Are you going to buy that bear for Yunho?”</p><p>Hongjoong smooths a hand over the bear’s ruffled faux fur where he’d been using it as a blunt object to beat some sense into Seonghwa’s fool head. “Think I should?”</p><p>“I already told you to!” Seonghwa howls in outrage while dropping his loot into the cart.</p><p>“Yes, you should,” Yeosang says over him. He has to gently pat at Seonghwa’s chest when his boyfriend huffs and sulkily eats another handful of hard candy, crunching the pieces loudly between his teeth in a bid for attention. “And for the love of god do something about the pining while you’re at it.”</p><p>Hongjoong colors. Realistically, he knows he’s never once been subtle about his feelings when it comes to Yunho. They’d been introduced to each other when Hongjoong’s first roommate—and shittiest considering the guy never cleaned his goddamn dishes and Hongjoong could barely muster the energy to scrub his own pots and pans—moved out half-way through their sophomore year, and Yunho stepped in to take over his part of the lease. </p><p>Jeong Yunho. The best friend of Hongjoong’s easily most biteable dongsaeng Mingi. A tall drink of water, a relentless flirt, and kind of a clean freak, which says nothing about how kind and sweet and adorable he is—</p><p>Seonghwa bops him in the face with another bear. “Come back to earth, sir, I can see you physically disappearing into Yunho la-la-land.”</p><p>“I was <em>not</em>,” Hongjoong lies while dropping his gift into the basket along with a collection of candy hearts at the last second to dole out to everyone else as a cover. “I was just—”</p><p>“You were waxing poetic about Yunho’s teeth or something in your brain, we get it,” Yeosang interrupts, “Can we <em> please </em> be done here now? I need to get back and write that dumbass ten page essay about ceramics by tomorrow.”</p><p>Hongjoong endures the good natured ribbing during the entire drive back to Seonghwa’s apartment where Yeosang is crashing until San and Wooyoung decide to come up for air. They tend to treat the first half of February as two weeks of impromptu honeymooning and Yeosang refuses to set foot in his own apartment under pain of he will tear them limb from limb if he inadvertently touches another patch of tacky lube on their kitchen table.</p><p>He drops them off in the parking lot and Seonghwa leaves him with a solemn, “Please just fucking tell him this year,” and a secret fistful of Hongjoong’s favorite flavor of sour skittles as encouragement.</p><p>Easier said than done when Hongjoong is standing at the door to his own apartment with the super tacky gift held in the curve of his elbow and Yunho presumably on the other side being all...<em> Yunho</em>. Hongjoong takes a deep steadying breath and tells himself today is going to be the day he says something—it’s a few days before Valentine’s Day proper, but the sentiment behind the gift is there. Surely giving the object of his affections an ugly bear will give him a clue, right?</p><p>Right.</p><p>“I’m home,” Hongjoong calls out when he opens the door.</p><p>“In here,” is the response yelled from the living room, followed closely by muffled cursing and the familiar sound of frantic button mashing that can only mean Yunho is hyperfocused on playing another video game. </p><p>Hongjoong peeks his head around the corner from the entrance way and debates finding the nearest hard object to bash his face in. Yunho is on their couch (not new), clad in his boxers and an oversized commemorative t-shirt from a polar plunge two years ago (also not new), and flush faced from anger as he glares at their television (very rare, very attractive, very high blood pressure inducing). Yunho gifts him with a brief flash of teeth in a welcoming smile before he’s groaning a long and drawn out “No!” of despair as his character is thrown into a dark abyss. Yunho ends up dropping his controller on the ground and slapping his palms against his face to muffle a scream.</p><p>Even clearly on day two of a shower-free sabbatical, Yunho is beautiful. Hongjoong might be biased as shit, but, like, even objectively Yunho is <em> pretty</em>. All dark hair and long lines and pink cheeked and—</p><p>Hongjoong whips the gross bear at Yunho’s head with a panicked, “Merry almost Valentine’s Day, loser!” just to make his brain stop focusing on things he shouldn’t be thinking about when his roommate is just lounging around their shared space. Yunho catches it with a high-pitched squawk.</p><p>“Oh, is this for me?” Yunho holds the bear aloft, giggling when he reads the obnoxious little note sewn to the bear's paws. “Cute.”</p><p>‘<em>You’re cute</em>,’ Hongjoong doesn’t say from the tongue-tied embarrassment making his cheeks flame up sudden and hot. Instead he opts for, “It was on sale.”</p><p>Yunho blinks at him, still holding the bear above him, and tilts his head to the side. “They put these things on sale <em>before</em> the holiday?”</p><p>Hongjoong freezes in his trek half-way across the room to drop his bags on their coffee table. “Uh—”</p><p>Yunho only smiles wider and pats at his thighs in invitation. “Come sit.”</p><p>“I should really go work on that project for that one class,” Hongjoong tries, giving up the instant Yunho juts his bottom lip out in a tantalizing pout, and flops bonelessly into the space next to him. Yunho lets out a small grunt of displeasure before tugging Hongjoong into his lap so he can octopus his stupid long arms around Hongjoong’s middle and prop his chin against his head. </p><p>“Comfortable?” Hongjoong questions, wry.</p><p>Yunho hums. “Very.” He presses the bear into Hongjoong’s belly on a tight hug. “Really though, thank you for this. Probably could have done without you calling me a loser when you gave it to me.”</p><p>“Can’t help it if I have to call ‘em as I see ‘em,” Hongjoong declares, only barely holding back a snort of surprise when Yunho bites at his shoulder in reprimand. He can feel the soft edges of Yunho’s lips at the edge of his shirt where it had been tugged away from his neck. Sitting here in Yunho’s lap—in Yunho’s warm embrace, surrounded by the sound of the PS4’s home screen music—Hongjoong feels incredibly small. </p><p>And extremely aroused.</p><p>“Teeth!” He exclaims a little hysterically and tries to wriggle free of Yunho’s grasp. “I give you a totally awesome gift and you sit here and <em> bite me</em>.”</p><p>Yunho giggles with his face still pressed distressingly against Hongjoong’s shoulder and he is entirely too homosexual to function for this encounter. He’s dead. Yunho has singlehandedly put him in the grave just by being an adorable goddamn nightmare and Hongjoong is going to spend the rest of his days as a ghost haunting this godforsaken couch trying to conjure the phantom memory of this moment with his dumb invisible ghost brain.</p><p>“You’re always biting Mingi or Wooyoung when they're over here. How’s it feel to get a taste of your own medicine, hyung?” Yunho coos. The bear gets set off to the side so Yunho can interlock his hands in its place right over Hongjoong’s navel. </p><p>“‘s bad,” Hongjoong slurs in a daze. Yunho has always been fairly touchy-feely but this is...this is a lot. Admittedly, the touching had ramped up just after Christmas when Yunho had some kind of overnight epiphany and decided they needed to be touching every time the two of them existed in the same five foot radius. It was the worst sort of torture to have the guy he was <em> very obviously </em> crushing on use him as a personal pillow or hold his hand so Yunho could swing their arms between them while walking down the street or randomly walk into his room to offer up a back massage after Hongjoong had been scrunched awkwardly into his office chair like a cooked shrimp for almost six hours.</p><p>Yunho shifts until his lips are almost directly touching Hongjoong’s ear and whispers a dark, “Maybe that’s a hint to stop putting your mouth where it doesn’t belong.”</p><p>Hongjoong makes a noise that sounds a lot like Beaker from Sesame Street, a strangled little <em> meep</em>, and disentangles himself from Yunho’s hold with a frantic, “Bathroom! G-Gotta pee!”</p><p>“Let’s watch a movie when you get back,” Yunho calmly calls after him. “They’ve got Ghibli on Netflix now!”</p><p>Hongjoong slams the door to the bathroom and rests his back against the wood. What the fuck? What the <em> fuck </em> was <em> that</em>?</p><p>He glares down at his crotch.</p><p>“No one asked you,” Hongjoong growls whisper soft down at the bulge slowly deforming the zipper of his jeans.<br/><br/><br/></p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <b>B-BRING THE BOYS OUT♪ ♫ ♬</b>
</p><p><strong>Yunho</strong>: look what my bf gave meeeee 💕✨ ily hyung <br/><strong>Yunho</strong>:<br/></p><p><strong>San</strong>: it's cute!<br/><strong>Yunho</strong>: 🥰</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <strong>Stop it. Get some help.</strong>
</p><p><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: OMG??????? HYUNG DID YOU ACTUALLY CONFESS<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: 👀<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: no <br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: he means 'best friend'<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: ...................really hate that i find that cute gdi<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: disgusting<br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: i believe it<br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: yunho sent me a bunch of eggplant emojis once <br/><strong>Seonghwa</strong>: excuse me?<br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: which meant he literally wanted to eat some eggplant for lunch that day<br/><strong>San</strong>: lol rip<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: someone please come put me out of my misery<br/><strong>Mingi</strong>: can i choose the weapon?<br/><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: mingi no<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: mingi yes</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>Never one to be outdone, Yunho wakes him up the next day with a plate full of homemade pancakes in one hand and a small vase with an even smaller bouquet of sunflowers in the other. </p><p>Hongjoong blinks up at him, Yunho’s face blurry without his glasses. “What’s all this for?” He asks around a yawn.</p><p>Yunho sets the flowers off to the side of the nightstand and delicately sits at the edge of Hongjoong’s mattress so he doesn’t jostle the bottle of syrup precariously perched in the middle of the plate. He waits until Hongjoong is sitting up properly before handing him the stack of fluffy buttery-sweet goodness.</p><p>Yunho shrugs. “Just felt like it. You’ve been working really hard with Mingi in the studio lately I figured you could use a treat.”’</p><p>Hongjoong sleepily bites into the first pancake and moans theatrically just to be intentionally obnoxious at the sweet flavor exploding over his taste buds. “Jesus fuck.”</p><p>Yunho swallows deeply and coughs. “Good?”</p><p>“Mmm,” Hongjoong hums, eyelids fluttering closed mostly because he’s tired, hamming it up for Yunho’s benefit is just a bonus. He feeds Yunho a tiny piece as thanks. The sleep still clinging to his edges leaves him loose lipped and honest, so it’s no surprise he lets slip, “You’ll make a good husband someday.”</p><p>Yunho goes scarlet neon red and burrows himself into Hongjoong’s covers with a small whine. “Stop! You can’t say things like that to me!”</p><p>“Why? It’s true.” Hongjoong licks his fork clean of residual syrup and deposits his plate on his nightstand, careful not to disturb the sunflowers. Still facedown on the bed, Yunho wriggles like a fish on a line and Hongjoong laughs completely endeared at his antics.</p><p>Yunho peeks one eye between his fingers. “You really think so?”</p><p>Hongjoong climbs up and over Yunho’s back to squeeze him around the middle. Also maybe as an excuse to feel the shift of muscles in Yunho’s back, but that’s neither here nor there. “I know so.” He can feel the way Yunho’s body contorts around his shy cringing, watches Yunho try to simultaneously plug his ears and cover his mouth at the same time, and his chest bubbles up with warmth. “Quit acting cute, you know I’m right.”</p><p>“Fine.” Yunho rolls beneath him, keeping Hongjoong from shifting off or away, and threads his fingers together at the base of Hongjoong’s spine. His cheeks are still shiny pink and it takes all of Hongjoong’s waning, tired willpower not to put his teeth on them. “What’s your schedule for today?”</p><p>“Got a lab at three,” Hongjoong mumbles. He’s settled down onto Yunho’s front with his head tucked up under his roommate’s chin. It’s nice to be held like this, even if it’s something he doesn’t allow himself to indulge in very often considering his feelings; the terrible, horrible, no good crush on his roommate. </p><p>Yunho makes a simple noise of agreement and doesn’t move, thumbs roving absentmindedly on the crinkled waistband of Hongjoong’s sleep shorts. Hongjoong blinks slow, basking in the easy intimacy between friends. Here, closed in on all sides by Yunho’s arms and his hands, he thinks now would be an excellent time to maybe say something—confess his feelings and let whatever fallout drop.</p><p>He’s going to say something, except Yunho drops a tiny kiss to his forehead and folds his legs over the back of Hongjoong’s thigh. “I don’t have to be on campus for another two hours, let’s take a nap.”</p><p>Next time then.</p><p> </p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <strong>Stop it. Get some help.</strong>
</p><p><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: he????!!!!!?? <br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: lord what did yunho do now? breathe?<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: he made me PANCAKES 😭  and brought me FLOWERS 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: DOES HE KNOW HE'S THE LOML<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: I'M GONNA CRY WE DON'T DESERVE JEONG YUNHO<br/><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: weak<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: bls you would be too<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: don't worry hyung you're valid<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: wooyoung is just jealous san doesn't do stuff like that for him<br/><strong>San</strong>: hey!<br/><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: i mean- <br/><strong>San</strong>: wooyoung!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>The production rooms at the music building are sacred ground to most students during the day, but a glaring hellscape at two in the morning when Hongjoong and Mingi are delirious with exhaustion trying to pull a last minute completed project out of their asses. By this point it’s mostly devolved into the pair of them crying at idiotic verses, something about Jongho’s vocal range (Hongjoong), his biceps (Mingi), and mash them all together to the tune of Old Town Road like they’re Doing Something.</p><p>Mingi cracks after the first verse and ends up cry-laughing into the scuffed linoleum. Hongjoong lets him, too busy wiping at his blurry tear dotted eyelashes himself, sighs when their program finishes rendering an old stand-by he’d saved a few months ago to turn in to the online submission form. </p><p>He considers the ceiling. “Do you think I should write Yunho a song?”</p><p>Mingi pretends to snore for half a second before rolling over to prop his head on Hongjoong’s foot. “I thought you tried that on the Christmas bender and it didn’t work.”</p><p>Hongjoong scowls at the computer and debates the merits of kicking Mingi in the nose. “I’ve told you multiple times I don’t remember that night.”</p><p>“Well Yunho seems to,” Mingi adds cryptically. “He’s constantly talking about how it was the single best night of his life so far.”</p><p>“I bet he does. Probably because he got both of his back pockets stuffed with numbers written on bar napkins,” Hongjoong says sourly. If only they hadn’t moved right into living with each other, then Hongjoong would have been one of the few lucky bastards to weasel his own phone number into Yunho’s pocket for him to call later. </p><p>Mingi grunts. He’s shifted his body to be mostly underneath the desk now so he’s hidden from the glare of overhead fluorescent lighting. “I don’t think that’s it. He was, like, giddy for almost a <em> month </em> and that’s saying something. You know how hyper he is.”</p><p>“With how bouncy he is, I wonder if he’s better than a vibrator,” Hongjoong muses, more to hear Mingi hiss like a cat in disgust than any real curiosity.</p><p>Mingi pops up with his glasses askew over his nose and his hair a tangled wreck from hours of scrubbing at his head in frustration. “I dare you to call him and ask.”</p><p>Early morning delirium resting heavy on his brain and his higher mental functions that would more than likely be screaming at him by now, Hongjoong pulls out his phone to blink owlishly down at the saved picture of himself and Yunho grinning on his lockscreen. “What’ll you give me if he answers?”</p><p>“Everything I own,” Mingi tells him seriously and slaps at Hongjoong’s thighs encouraging. “Hyung! Hyung, oh my god, <em>please</em> do it.”</p><p>Because he is not actually the biggest coward this side of Korea, Hongjoong actually presses Yunho's contact and waits. The phone rings three times before Yunho answers the call, his voice slurred and muffled by interrupted sleep, “Hyung?”</p><p>Hongjoong means to say, with confidence, ‘<em>Morning, stud. What’s the temperature like on planet Yunho?’ </em> or something equally foul and offensive, but what actually falls out of his mouth is a singular,  “Hey”. He follows up that spectacular opening with his face crumpling up and hot tears making the fast track down down to drip off the point of his chin. “<em>Fuck</em>.”</p><p>Yunho coos at him over the sound of his desperate hiccuping sobs while Mingi drops back to the floor to curl into himself trying to hide his hysterical laughter by biting his fist. “Are you finally done with your project with Mingi?”</p><p>“Yes,” Hongjoong burbles through his mortifying tears. “Sorry, I was—this isn’t what—”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Yunho tells him. Hongjoong can hear the rustle of sheets over the connection as Yunho obviously gets up and pulls on some pants. The feral monkey part of his brain wonders vaguely if Yunho was even wearing underwear when he answered the call. “I’ll come pick you guys up and take you home.”</p><p>“Tell Yunho you love him,” Mingi yells still hidden beneath the table. </p><p>“What was that?”</p><p>Hongjoong finally kicks Mingi like he should have thirty minutes ago. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”</p><p>“Sounded a lot like Mingi saying you should tell me you love me,” Yunho snickers, “Maybe you should.”</p><p>Hongjoong gapes down at his phone. Even Mingi gets wide eyed and open mouthed about it. “What, I—<em>really?” </em></p><p>“I mean, you did wake me up at 2:54 in the morning to come pick your ridiculous asses up from campus.” Yunho snaps his fingers rapid-fire. “Come on, out with it.”</p><p>Hongjoong looks at Mingi. Mingi looks back at him and shrugs, makes motions with his hands like ‘just go with it, dude’.  Hongjoong hiccups and barely gets out a stuttering choked up, “I, um, I love you.”</p><p>“Better,” Yunho says matter-of-fact. “See you in fifteen. Tell Mingi I’m not dragging his ass up the stairs to his dorm room so stay awake.”</p><p>Yunho hangs up.</p><p>Mingi snorts out another laughing, “That didn’t work either, holy shit.”</p><p>Hongjoong very slowly, very deliberately attempts to crack his skull on the workroom desk.</p><p> </p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <b>B-BRING THE BOYS OUT♪ ♫ ♬</b>
</p><p><strong>San</strong>: hey so perhaps i have come into possession of four rent free days at a condo near haeundae <br/><strong>San</strong>: and since it's almost the weekend anyway how do we feel about ditching two days of useless classes to go hang out at the BEACH??<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: pretty good considering none of my profs even log attendance anymore<br/><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: I'M IN<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: ew gross tmi<br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: jongho.......ffs<br/><strong>Yunho</strong>: SOUNDS FUN<br/><strong>Yunho</strong>: Hongjoong says he's coming<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: G R OSS<br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: JONGHO STOP<br/><strong>Yunho</strong>: 😳</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>Haeundae beach is mostly deserted this time of year except for the locals and a few tourists determined to have a good time crunching their way down nearly frozen sands. It’s still better than being back home attending classes by a long shot. Everyone pretty much scatters once they’re situated in the condo. Seonghwa and Yeosang drag Jongho along for an impromptu shopping trip—”Like all good tourists!” Seonghwa exuberantly tells the group, one hand fisted tightly in Jongho’s jacket so he can’t escape—and the rest…<br/><br/>He couldn't care less what Mingi has decided to occupy himself with, but he really doesn’t want to know what Wooyoung and San are getting up to.</p><p>The condo has a terrace overlooking a small stretch of untouched beach. Hongjoong breathes deep and lets the cold air invade his lungs and wash away stress of trying to come up with a not shitty way to confess without actually using his words before Valentine’s Day.</p><p>Yunho walks up behind him and threads his arms around Hongjoong’s waist to squeeze him through his oversized puffer jacket. “I managed to snag the last room with a guest bed for us to share. You can thank me later.”</p><p>“My back thanks you <em>now</em>,” Hongjoong sighs. “Who’s getting the couch?”</p><p>Yunho presses his nose into Hongjoong’s neck, the sudden shock of cold giving him instant almost painful goosebumps, and he whines loudly over the sound of Yunho’s repressed giggles. “Seonghwa and Yeosang since they decided to leave before we could draw straws.”</p><p>“Sucks to be them.” Hongjoong lets himself relax into the warm weight of Yunho’s chest for just an instant. If he closes his eyes, he can pretend this moment is something tender and sweet between lovers. A picture perfect moment in time he can return to later and say ‘see? We’ve always fit together so well’.</p><p>Yunho ruins it by blowing an obnoxiously wet raspberry against his cheek. “Come on, let’s go see if we can find any little sand crabs by the docks.”</p><p>“It’s <em> February</em>,” Hongjoong groans and wipes away the phantom sensation of Yunho’s mouth on his face. </p><p>Yunho pulls him towards the front door by his sleeves. “They’re <em> crabs</em>,” he stresses wide-eyed. </p><p>“You’re such a baby,” Hongjoong mutters under his breath and, damn him, allows Yunho to pull him away from his comfy vantage point with at least the option to go back inside to warm up. The walk down to the docks is short considering how close they are to the actual beach, but it’s frigid and wind blowing in from the sea makes his face sting from the salt leeching into the air.</p><p>It’s worth it to let Yunho pull him along though just to see the adoring expression on Yunho’s red, windblown face when they actually manage to find a tiny crab angrily waving its biggest claw at them by one of the wooden dock posts. </p><p>"That thing looks like a bug," Hongjoong says when the affection welling up in his chest threatens to spill over into him blurting out his least best kept secret. </p><p>Yunho just coos at the tiny crab, crouching down to touch his finger to its little pinching claw. "Aw, hyung, he looks like a friend. Look how cute he is." </p><p>The crab is much less enthusiastic about the encounter and scuttles away once Yunho stops trying to have some kind of Vulcan mindmeld with the creature. Hongjoong swallows back a wheeze when Yunho uses his hand to help leverage himself up, leaving it there so he can link their fingers together for shared warmth. Even this small amount of contact, and the way Yunho grins at him bright and happy just for tagging along, is enough to make his heart topple over in his chest. </p><p> </p><p>In all the excitement of impromptu vacation and Yeosang deciding to start a very small, very illegal fire in a grill left behind the condo so they could roast marshmallows, Hongjoong had forgotten that—oh yeah!—he and Yunho are <em> sharing a bed</em>. It looks huge compared to the cramped twin mattress he sleeps on back home, but the bed may as well be the size of a tiny baby’s cot with how suddenly claustrophobic he feels watching Yunho pull out his favorite sleep shorts and his toothbrush.</p><p>He grabs at Wooyoung passing by down the hallway outside the bedroom after Yunho goes off in search of a decent mirror for his skincare routine. “Help me,” he whispers harsh into Wooyoung’s chest, “Holy fucking god, there’s only one bed!”</p><p>Wooyoung pats him gently on the back. “Just enjoy it while it lasts, hyung.” Hongjoong mimes crying, but Wooyoung is vicious and mean so he just pushes Hongjoong back to his room and claps his hands like he’s cleaning away dust. “Tell him you want to suck his dick and get it over with, yeah? Prime opportunity.”</p><p>“You’re the devil,” Hongjoong seethes at him when Wooyoung turns to walk away.</p><p>His dongsaeng only covers his ears and hums the wedding march back to his shared room with San.</p><p>Hongjoong and Yunho have slept together before, but those times were mostly when one or both of them were drunk and sacked out on the other’s shoulder on the couch. Or, like that one time after the Boys’ Night Bender just after finals in December, cuddled up together in the middle of Yunho’s bed on top of the covers. There was no—there was no <em> this</em>: Yunho pulled in tight behind his back, face buried at the base of his neck and his hands—those big beautiful hands—tucked in over his belly to pull Hongjoong back into the cradle of his hips.</p><p>Sometime around 2AM, Hongjoong finally falls into exhausted sleep as the tickle of Yunho's heated breath washes over his neck.</p><p> </p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <strong>Stop it. Get some help.</strong>
</p><p><strong>Seonghwa</strong>: so inquiring minds need to know<br/><strong>Seonghwa</strong>: how'd you sleep last night my precious joongie baby<br/><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: 👀👂<br/><strong>Yeosang</strong>: 👀<br/><strong>San</strong>: 👀<br/><strong>Mingi</strong>: 👀<br/><strong>Honghoong</strong>: shut up all of you i am still in Cuddle Recovery<br/><strong>Jongho</strong>: heck</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>Wild-eyed with sudden and impulsive inspiration, Hongjoong only just avoids speeding to the nearest convenience store to buy up their entire 12 box promotional display of candy hearts bearing messages like ‘I♡U’ and ‘First Kiss’. The man at the register rings him up quick, gives him a sympathetic, “Last minute Valentine’s gift?”</p><p>“Something like that,” Hongjoong says and hands over his card.</p><p>The man nods sagely, hands him an overflowing plastic bag of mostly tasteless candy. “I’ve been there before. Good luck staying out of the doghouse for not bringing roses.”</p><p>Back at the beach house, Hongjoong spreads out a long stripe of parchment paper he’d pulled from one of the kitchen drawers along the one huge coffee table sitting in the front room and starts pouring the candy out of their boxes to sift through the pile. Almost everyone is out enjoying the sun and the sand while it’s not so freezing cold so he knows he has time, two hours at the least, before anyone comes in to catch him. He starts pulling out potential candies to sort out his favorite messages. He settles on one that just says a simple ‘Be Mine’ and focuses on trying to fill up a new box to give to Yunho.</p><p>Mingi comes yawning in from the hallways when Hongjoong has gone through maybe three of twelve boxes and has only paltry four candies separated from the hoard.</p><p>“What’re you doin’?” Mingi slurs in his half-asleep state, blinking slow and scrubbing at his eyes.</p><p>“Making Yunho a special gift box,” Hongjoong says, focused on tracking down more of those same messages and getting frustrated the longer he comes up empty-handed. “Help me and you can have the rest of the candy.”</p><p>Sluggishly, Mingi droops heavily into his side with his head resting on Hongjoong’s shoulder and half-assed flicks through the unsorted pile. “What am I looking for? Pretty sure they don’t print ‘I am a hopeless gay please love me’ on candy you can buy at the store.”</p><p>Hongjoong smacks at Mingi's thigh, a sharp sting, just to hear the satisfactory hiss of pain between his disrespectful dongsaeng's teeth. "Anything that says 'Be Mine'"—"Gross," Mingi gags, which Hongjoong chooses to ignore—"put it into this box. I'm going to give it to Yunho and then he'll <em>have </em>to realize I'm—" </p><p>He stops as the familiar creep of heat flowing up over his neck, his ears and the bridge of his nose rises up fast. Mingi snorts hidden laughter behind a palm.</p><p>"I don't know how <em>he</em> doesn't know about your ooey-gooey feelings about him by now, honestly. I'm Yunho's best friend and even I'm kind of amazed it's been this long without him saying anything to you," Mingi offers in a clear bid to be supportive. He slides another three message hearts across the parchment paper.</p><p>Hongjoong gnaws at his bottom lip, dropping the last few candies into the newly created box. "Do you think this is stupid? Like, I don't even know if he likes me back I just..."</p><p>Mingi rubs at the base of his spine comfortingly. "All you can do is try."</p><p>Hongjoong relaxes into the touch with a quiet sniffle. "Thanks. For what it's worth, I think maybe someday Jongho will realize you're not so bad and consider holding your hand."</p><p>"Shut up, I will fucking <em>bite you</em>," Mingi growls at him and sweeps the rest of the candy into the discarded store bag for later. </p><p>Hongjoong glares back. "Not if I do it <em>first</em>."</p><p> </p><p>The group comes back from their sandy adventures Outside to find Hongjoong and Mingi wrestling together in the middle of the floor, candy strewn around their bodies, and an impressive set of near matching teeth marks dug into Hongjoong’s neck and Mingi’s arm. Yeosang and Jongho ignore them by stepping over their pile of tangled limbs to head to the back of the condo no doubt for a change of clothes. Everyone seems to wave the pair of them off, too used to their antics to care about whatever it is they’re fighting about now—San makes a comment about making  them clean up their mess later; Seonghwa calls them idiots; Wooyoung grabs some of the candy out of the bag to munch on and flings himself onto the overstuffed sectional.</p><p>Yunho sighs at them in disappointment.</p><p>And really, Hongjoong should apologize for making a mess or whatever, except when he looks up it’s to Yunho’s flushed and sunburnt face haloed in soft light filtering through the kitchen window and his brain immediately goes offline. Apparently Mingi can clearly see it happening because he has to push his face into the floor to hide a round of pointed cackling. Hongjoong lets out an involuntary ‘oof’ from the added pressure on his chest. Mingi is <em> heavy </em> and it doesn’t help that nearly all of his weight is resting on Hongjoong’s chest and digging into his bladder.</p><p>“We leave you guys alone for not even two hours and you’re already trying to eat each other.” Yunho toes at Mingi’s shivery giggling form. “Get up and quit trying to squish Hongjoong-hyung.”</p><p>“Yeah, Mingi,” Hongjoong wheezes as he pushes ineffectually at Mingi’s chest. “You’re crushing me.”</p><p>“But I’m comfy,” Mingi singsongs into the carpet and makes a point to trap Hongjoong’s thighs between his legs. “And you started it anyway. Learn to accept your punishment.”</p><p>Hongjoong gives Yunho his best pleading puppy-eyes, cheering internally in triumph when Yunho’s cheeks redden just slightly and he crouches to pinch at Mingi’s ear until he whines and tries to bat Yunho’s fingers away.</p><p>“I don’t care who started it,” Yunho says tart, “I much prefer Hongjoong uncrushed, thank you.”</p><p>“Lame,” Mingi huffs, but relents in finally standing back up, dusting off his knees and crouching to pick up the bulk of the message hearts that had managed to stay inside the grocery bag during all of their roughhousing. Yunho watches him take his ill-gotten goods to the kitchen with an inscrutable look on his face.</p><p>Hongjoong stands. His knees wobble a little precariously and, when Yunho steadies him with a sturdy grip to his elbow and doesn’t immediately let him go, Hongjoong supposes it’s now or never. He clears his throat.</p><p>“I have something for you.”</p><p>Yunho takes a moment to respond, too entranced by some daydream he’s obviously dropped into by the way he hasn’t looked away from the place where his thumb is digging into Hongjoong’s elbow. Hongjoong waves a hand in front of his face.</p><p>Yunho blinks at him. “Sorry. What?”</p><p>“Just—here.” Hongjoong drops the newly packaged box of candy into Yunho’s hand and tries not to let any outward signs of his throat clogging panic show.</p><p>Yunho pours out nearly half the box into his too huge hand and stares down at the collection of the same message over and over again with his chin tilted down. Hongjoong waits with bated breath, jittery and nervous at the verdict—because this, <em> this</em>, can’t be ignored or misconstrued as anything other than a full on confession. Yunho has about twelve declarations of Hongjoong’s intent in his fist and all he has to do is give a yes or a no.</p><p>“Well?” Hongjoong hesitantly questions. </p><p>Yunho purses his lips, says mildly, “There sure is a lot of peppermint flavor in this box,” before popping half of the candies into his mouth to chew them noisy and obnoxious. Yunho holds out the rest of his loot to him, around a mouthful of chalky hearts emblazoned with ‘Be Mine’ he asks, “Want some?”</p><p>“No.” Hongjoong stares into the middle distance in distress, hopes crushed into the ground as finely as the powder between Yunho’s teeth. All that hard work for <em>nothing</em>. “Those were just for you.”</p><p>Yunho shrugs and wanders away into the back hallway towards the linen closet for a towel then into the bathroom for a shower. He’s left the emptied box Hongjoong carefully put together on one of the raised kitchen counters for Seonghwa or Jongho to pick up later.</p><p>It is wholly undignified, but as soon as he hears the start of the shower turning on in the background Hongjoong walks into the living room where San and Wooyoung are casually lounging around thumbing through their phones with their legs propped against one another, grabs the nearest pillow, puts it to his face, and screams loud and long.</p><p>San and Wooyoung both startle and exclaim, "What the hell?" at the same time over each other. Hongjoong just ignores them to bury his face deeper into the pillow until he feels the familiar shape of Mingi's hand patting him on the back.</p><p>“I take it that was a no go?”</p><p>Hongjoong shakes his head, still hidden against the fabric, accepting the hug Mingi pulls him into with only a token amount of muffled protest. </p><p> </p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <strong>Stop it. Get some help.</strong>
</p><p><strong>San</strong>: hey hongjoong how much do you love me?<br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: less than yunho more than mingi<br/><strong>Mingi</strong>: tf rude &gt;:(<br/><strong>San</strong>: fair <br/><strong>San</strong>: well thank me later but we're all going to make up an excuse to leave early<br/><strong>San</strong>: so you and loverboy can have an extra day to yourselves<br/><strong>San</strong>: ✨a l o n e✨<br/><strong>Seonghwa</strong>: there's extra lube under the middle cushion of the sectional wink wonk you're welcome<br/><strong>San</strong>: HYUNG WTF<br/><strong>San</strong>: THIS IS MY AUNT'S CONDO YOU NASTY <br/><strong>Hongjoong</strong>: um<br/><strong>Seonghwa</strong>: what?<br/><strong>Seonghwa</strong>: i was just trying to help!</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>Yunho has apparently managed to finesse his way into an opening at one of those fancy hole-in-the-wall beachside restaurants that has a maximum of one open seat at any given time during peak tourist season and less on romantic holidays. Hongjoong has no idea how—considering their usual shared dinner budget—or really <em> why </em> Yunho went through the trouble, but the table they’re escorted to is hidden in a back corner away from the loudest section of the restaurant floor. It’s dimly lit by a single overhead light meant to give off an air of seclusion. The menus don’t even have <em> prices</em>.</p><p>Hongjoong spares a single grimacing glance at the list of ingredients beneath each offered dish and orders a water to drink. Their waiter has that insufferable air about him that reeks of distaste at dealing with patrons below his station but he jots down the request without saying anything. Yunho orders them a bottle of a wine Hongjoong can’t even begin to pronounce to compensate.</p><p>Yunho nudges his ankle with the tip of his shoe beneath their table when the waiter meanders away with their drink order. “You know you can get whatever you want. I’m paying after all.”</p><p>“Well yeah, but all of this is too hoity-toity for my blood,” Hongjoong whines into the gap of the menu with its too fancy linen card stock and its—its ridiculously <em>foreign</em> and <em>snobby</em> word choice. “And I’m pretty sure some of these descriptions are just a bunch of made up words to make you feel stupid.”</p><p>Yunho laughs long and loud until he hiccups at the end with a small squeak. Some of the other patrons give them pursed-mouth glares. Hongjoong glares back, refusing to be intimidated by some rich bitches and their trophy husbands or whatever. “Hyung! Just point at something, I’m sure whatever they bring out will be good.”</p><p>Hongjoong groans. “What if I accidentally point out something weird? Like chicken gizzards covered in avocado foam.”</p><p>“Oh my god.” Yunho hides another affectionate grin behind his hand and reaches for Hongjoong’s menu with the other. “Do you trust me?”</p><p>“Always,” Hongjoong answers immediately, reflexive, and flushes hard at the way Yunho’s face lights up with a small secretive grin. He is suddenly, immeasurably grateful for the darkened corner keeping his neon glowing cheeks at least somewhat hidden. “Don’t make that face, you already knew that.”</p><p>“Did I,” Yunho says cryptically. He orders them both something distressingly French sounding, and when Yunho had ever been fluent enough to order things like this Hongjoong had no idea, before turning back to catch Hongjoong’s legs between his calves again and pour him a generous glass of red. </p><p>Hongjoong takes a cautious sip letting the tannic flavor of expensive grapes stomped within an inch of their lives wash over the back of his throat. Yunho watches him with his chin in his hand, propped up by his elbow on the very edge of their table. It’s probably incredibly rude considering their current environment. Some of the diners even have single candles lit between them on their tables and if Hongjoong didn’t know any better he’d say this was a <em> date</em>. Except, considering Yunho was completely oblivious to Hongjoong’s shy stumbling attempts at trying to confess, it’s probably more the fact there was a Groupon deal going around or something and this was a room full to the brim with extra classy try-hard tinder dates.</p><p>With his legs trapped as they are, Hongjoong can only nervously try to bounce his knees with no leverage and casts around for anything to say. </p><p>“So,” Hongjoong draws out, “Question.”</p><p>Yunho lifts his eyebrows at him. “Yes?”</p><p>Feeling brave from a combination of the wine and also the fact he’s been desperately trying to do this for over a week now, Hongjoong manages to get out, “How do you feel about petnames?”</p><p>Yunho grins at him hard enough that his cheeks actually bulge out the tiniest bit beneath his eyes, hidden layers of adorable musculature flexing just enough to make Hongjoong’s idiot heart skip a few beats.</p><p>“If we ever get a dog, I want to name them Sweet Potato.” Yunho reaches over to tap Hongjoong’s knuckles excitedly with the tips of his fingers—a gentle pap!pap!pap! while Hongjoong gapes incredulously. “Oh! Or a goldfish named Goldeen!”</p><p>There’s a bathroom in the farthest corner next to the entrance to the kitchen Hongjoong spends a brief moment considering dunking his head in one of the toilets just as an excuse to get the fuck out and away from Yunho's total lack of social awareness. That was, like, a top tier come on! There should have been literally no way to misinterpret what Hongjoong was trying to put out into the world, but Yunho somehow managed to do it.</p><p>“Why,” He demands, mostly about the way his roommate’s brain seems to work. </p><p>“Because I like Pokemon,” Yunho says defensively and curls his fingers through the gaps between Hongjoong’s own so he can squeeze them together with a pout. “You can’t make fun of my game choices when your room is at least 75% minion merch.”</p><p>He drops the subject. Hongjoong’s brain is a cascading avalanche of ‘why god did you put Yunho on this earth? Was it to torture me? Is it torture you want?’ and ‘he has to be doing this on purpose’, along with an intense round of white noise when they decide to split a molten brownie cake for dessert and Yunho gets ice cream smudged at the corner of his mouth. It devolves further from there when Yunho decides it would be best to lick the sugar-sweet vanilla away with the slick pink tip of his tongue and the only thought Hongjoong can muster is a caveman-like ‘mnrgh’ of despair.</p><p> </p><p>They walk back to San’s condo to work off the buzz of alcohol and Yunho swings their linked hands wildly to and fro down the sidewalk. Hongjoong tells himself not to look into it, because he’s been putting down a lot of things Yunho is refusing to pick up and at this point it's getting a more than a little pathetic. This whole venture has been just a waste of time and effort. The only reason he can think of for Yunho to be acting this willfully obtuse is because he’s either not interested or...not interested and trying to avoid any awkwardness while they live together. He knows Yunho isn’t like emotionally <em>dumb</em>, or needlessly cruel usually, but Hongjoong thought he’d at least say something to let him down gently instead of watching Hongjoong make a fool of himself for weeks. Months. Two whole years worth of pining.</p><p>It’s enough of a reality check that Hongjoong feels a little bad for trying so hard to make Yunho give him an answer to a question he’s only barely been asking. Maybe this is the wake up call he needs to finally move on. </p><p>The stars are out, traffic is light, and Yunho is still devastatingly handsome grinning in front of the backdrop of the sea and stars. </p><p>Yunho bumps their hips together. “We should do this more often after we get back home.”</p><p>“I don’t think the food budget could really handle going to four-star restaurants more than once per year,” Hongjoong laughs. Even to his ears it sounds sad and faraway. “Maybe only as a treat for special occasions.”</p><p>“Maybe,” Yunho hums.  “Like anniversaries.”</p><p>“Like anniversaries,” Hongjoong agrees. Like the romantic ones they’re never going to have. Like the ones Yunho very clearly doesn’t want with him specifically. </p><p>He breathes in and when he finally lets the air rush out of his mouth two years of pining goes with it into the night. </p><p> </p><p>-----♡-----</p><p>
  <b>B-BRING THE BOYS OUT♪ ♫ ♬</b>
</p><p><b>Hongjoong</b>: WHY IS YUNHO SO FUCKING DENSE <br/><b>Mingi</b>: oop-<b><br/>Hongjoong</b>: IGIVE UP I'M JUST GONNA CLAW MY FACE OFF N LIVE IN THE WOODS<b><br/>Jongho</b>: please find your chill <br/><b>San</b>: hyung as much as i love watching you make a fool of yourself<br/><b>San</b>: wrong chat buddy<b><br/>Hongjoong</b>: wdym<b><br/>Yunho</b>: ………i am confusion<b><br/>Hongjoong</b>: oh no noonononnnono<b><br/>Yunho</b>: also ow my feelings :(<b><br/>Hongjoong</b>: SHIT</p><p>
  <em> [ Hongjoong has left B-BRING THE BOYS OUT♪ ♫ ♬ ] </em>
</p><p><b>Yeosang</b>: oh my god seonghwa is crying<br/><b>Wooyoung</b>: lol what why <b><br/>Seonghwa</b>: TEARS OF JOY<b><br/>Mingi</b>: 😂😂😂 <b><br/>Yunho</b>: cool, someone explain what that was about<b><br/>San</b>: NOT IT<b><br/>Jongho</b>: nose goes<b><br/>Yunho</b>: TELL ME<b><br/>Wooyoung</b>: mingi ur his best friend you d o it<b><br/>Mingi</b>: what no make san do it <b><br/>San</b>: i’m busy<b><br/>Yeosang</b>: doing what exactly<b><br/>Jongho</b>: please don't answer that<b><br/>Yunho</b>: just tell me wtf my bf is talking about :/<b><br/>Mingi</b>: i thought i was your best friend?<b><br/>Yunho</b>: ???? because you are???<b><br/>Wooyoung</b>: aw wholesome<b><br/>San</b>: wait<b><br/>Jongho</b>: so hongjoong isn’t your bf as in ‘best friend’?<b><br/>Yunho</b>: the hell? no<br/><b>Yunho</b>: bf as in boyfriend like how the rest of the planet uses it<b><br/>Seonghwa</b>: fdjkmy fuckingfhgd i mgon na piss myselkfnh<br/><b>Mingi</b>: WHERE'S HONGJOONG GET HIM BACK HERE<br/><b>San</b>: no no no no no nobody tell him this is GOLD<br/><b>Jongho</b>: yunho hyung exactly how long have you and hongjoong been dating?<br/><b>Yunho</b>: idk like a couple months<br/><b>Yeosang</b>: oh wow i think seonghwa is about to crack a rib with how hard he’s laughing<br/><b>Yunho</b>: i know we didn't say anything but i thought it was obvious with how 🥰🥰🥰 i’ve been lately hahaha<br/><b>Yunho</b>: why<br/><strong>Wooyoung</strong>: Yunho my good friend<br/><b>Wooyoung</b>: have we got some stories for you</p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>Hongjoong finds his way to the beach and into one of the lounge chairs left out after after the tiny bonfire of the previous night, deeply entrenched in one of Yunho’s hoodies he stole when his roommate wasn’t looking because Mingi was being shitty about sharing his extra coat. He pulls the strings tight to close his face away from the world, flaming red, to hide the physical manifestation of his last failed attempt at confession and cringes into his knees.</p><p>San had called him pathetic once, right after Hongjoong had confessed to maybe liking his new roommate a little too much only four months into their new living situation. </p><p>“Just go for it,” San had told him, “What’s the worst that can happen? He says no and then you move on after like two weeks of being awkward around each other? Please.”</p><p>Too late now, Hongjoong thinks bitterly. Now it’s almost two years later and he’s so dependent on Yunho’s company that he can't imagine putting it in jeopardy just because he’s emotionally attached when he shouldn’t be. Anyway, Yunho very clearly isn’t into him in the same way so it doesn’t matter. The friend date tonight; ignoring his very clever gift of the message hearts; all of it should be enough for Hongjoong to finally give up for real.</p><p>The sea rises up dark in front of him. He can make out the softly undulating reflection of the moon and stars along its surface. Much like the shining celestial bodies blinking at him from the water’s edge, Hongjoong is pretty much resigned to carry this torch for Yunho forever.</p><p>“There you are!” Yunho trots up with a huge grin on his face and, dammit, just hearing his voice has Hongjoong’s heart beating double time again. “I’ve been looking for you. Scoot up.”</p><p>Hongjoong fiddles with the strings pulled tight along his bottom lip. “Why?”</p><p>“So I can sit with you. Up, up,” Yunho presses him forward in the chair until he can wedge himself behind Hongjoong and pull him into his lap with a satisfied thrum in the back of his throat. “Is this my hoodie?”</p><p>Hongjoong rests his head on Yunho’s shoulder and thinks about running away. He doesn’t, because it’s cold out, and Yunho is warm and Hongjoong is and always will be an idiot. “....Yeah.”</p><p>“Thought so. It looks good on you.” Yunho gets his arms around Hongjoong’s belly and squeezes just shy of too hard. “So I learned something interesting tonight.”</p><p>Hongjoong pouts, patting at Yunho’s fingers absently. “Like what?” And hopefully it’s not just the fact he thinks Yunho is denser than concrete.</p><p>“Like the fact I might’ve...<em>assumed</em> some things that weren’t actually, ah,” Yunho coughs and rubs his face against Hongjoong’s back, hidden, mumbling something unintelligible against his spine.<br/><br/>“Yunho? Buddy, you’re gonna have to repeat that.”</p><p>Yunho squeezes him tighter. “I thought um—” He can feel Yunho take a deep breath by the way his whole body shifts forward with the expansion of Yunho’s chest behind him. “You remember that night out after finals when you got really, really, <em> really </em> drunk?”<br/><br/>Hongjoong cringes. They’d all gone out after the last final of the semester to get shitfaced in celebration, and woke up at home the next day hungover as shit with no recollection of the events of the previous night. Someone thought it would be a good idea to shave slits into his eyebrow, he knows that much. Mingi hadn’t let him live down the first little growth of baby hairs for at least a month afterwards.</p><p>At the time, he thought it was a little odd that Yunho offered him a tiny bouquet of roses the next day, but he assumed it was out of some misplaced guilt for letting San attack his face with the clippers than anything else. He’d accepted them, because it was Yunho—and Yunho looked so deliriously happy about it—he hadn’t had the heart to ask for the actual reason. But that was like...months ago.<br/><br/>“I mostly just remember being hungover for two days. Why? What’s that got to do with anything?”<br/><br/>Yunho presses harder into his back with a whine. “So I might’ve overestimated exactly how much you remember about that night because I was under the impression we’d been dating since I gave you the roses.”</p><p>Hongjoong’s blood freezes in his veins before igniting into something equivalent to hot magma flowing rapidly up his neck to his hairline. “You—<em>what</em>?”<br/><br/>Yunho refuses to let him turn around so Hongjoong can see what his face is doing. He’s left to stare in amazed wonder at the shoreline. </p><p>Yunho continues, “Okay, hear me out, alright? You know how you’re always so…” </p><p>Yunho trails off and flails an arm ineffectually in the air beside them that Hongjoong catches so he can lace their hands together, because they’ve been <em> dating </em> and he’s fucking<em> allowed</em>, and Yunho shudders hard beneath him. “Yeah, <em> that</em>. Plus, like, the valentine's bear and the cute candies, and the song...”<br/><br/>Feeling brave and a little better about himself and his life choices now that he knows Yunho <em> did </em> notice the candy message at least, Hongjoong lets go of Yunho’s hand so he can spin himself around, ending up with his knees on either side of Yunho’s hips. “The song? What song?”<br/><br/>Yunho’s face is beet red. The fan of his lashes seems darker out here beneath the sky and the stars and he’s everything Hongjoong has ever wanted. Everything he’s ever written about in the quiet nights spent in the production rooms on campus. He’s all the soft romantic words that get tangled up in Hongjoong’s brain when he tries to wrangle them into lyrics.</p><p>“You wrote me a song that night,” Yunho whispers. “It was mostly about how big you think my dick is, but some of it was how much you like me and how often you want to hold my hand and kiss me when no one and everyone is looking. Also something about making me buy you roses, which I took as a hint and did so you'd agree to date me.”</p><p>“Oh,” Hongjoong grimaces. “I’m...so sorry.”</p><p>Yunho unties the hoodie strings knotted below Hongjoong’s bottom lip and pulls the hood down back around his neck. “I’m not.” Yunho leans forward to peck him quickly on the cheek. “I’m really, <em> really </em>not sorry, only a little sad you don’t remember the night in question.”</p><p>Hongjoong rolls his lips between his teeth to help hide away the insane grin trying to make camp on his mouth. “So, wait, you thought we’d been dating for almost three months now and you weren’t going to say anything about not kissing or not having sex or anything?”</p><p>Yunho scowls at him, still red—still fucking unfairly <em> gorgeous</em>. “I just assumed you were either really shy when you weren’t drinking or not interested in making the beast with two backs this quick.”</p><p>Makes sense, Hongjoong supposes. Bolstered by the knowledge this is a sure thing, that Yunho is honest to god <em> into him</em>, he lets his weight rest a little harder in Yunho’s lap to hear the air punch out of him in one quick rush. He smirks. “Trust me, I’m interested.” Long idle fingers inch their way up under his shirt and for once Hongjoong doesn’t mind the shock of cold digging into his stomach. “For a while now.”</p><p>“I know,” Yunho says, unbearably smug, “Hate to break it to you, but you’re really obvious. I was just waiting for you to make the first move.”</p><p>Hongjoong glares down at him and not even the hot trail of Yunho’s now warmed fingertips dragging just below his navel can soothe the bright irritation away. “Why couldn’t <em> you</em>?”</p><p>Yunho shrugs totally unconcerned. “More fun this way.”</p><p>“You know, part of me thinks I should be incredibly mad at you for letting me go on this long without saying anything to me,” He says, scraping his own nails over Yunho’s neck in a bid to make him shiver out of his skin, mean. </p><p>Yunho catches one of his hands to lay a careful kiss to the middle knuckle. “And the other part?”</p><p>Hongjoong grins. “Mostly just wants to kiss you.”<br/><br/>“Please,” Yunho, <em>his boyfriend</em>, begs, “It’s been <em> years</em>.”</p><p> </p><p>-----♡-----</p><p> </p><p>Later, Hongjoong dozes laid out on Yunho's chest in the middle of San's aunt's sectional with Yunho's fingers trailing odd shapes along the notches of his spine.</p><p>"Do I even want to know how you knew that bottle was there?" Yunho questions after a beat.</p><p>"Nope." Hongjoong shifts upright and the blankets they'd been using as cover drop down to pool at his waist. "And I hope you didn't lose it because I'm ready for round two."</p><p>"You're a menace," Yunho informs him, but he's grinning when he says it and drags Hongjoong down by his arms to drop fierce and biting kisses to his mouth anyway.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hot take: boys are dumb.<br/>~ Ash</p></blockquote></div></div>
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